Tag Archive: Fire

It was a strange afternoon. We drove down to visit Erick’s aunt and uncle in Columbia and enjoyed some time in the country talking about the future of energy and transportation in America. The countryside was quiet without a single train passing until the very last moment, when we were about to leave and we heard the loud, long horn off in the distance. I jumped off the porch, leading the pack of train-happy folk, down the narrow gravel road where Celli leapt ahead of me, tongue a flyin’ and hell-bent on scaring off whatever it was we were all chasing and woo-hooing about. Suddenly, I became aware of a more immediate and urgent chase as my beagle was heading full-speed in the direction of a blind corner where the 200-ton engine was approaching at full speed.

I called after her, but the engine roared and its horn blared and I could only see Celli’s mouth moving as she barked in cadence with her every step. As the train emerged out of the woods she crossed one set of tracks and met it full on coming within in a few inches of the massive steel wheels. I stopped and turned away; a sob caught in my throat. I thought she was gone. When I looked again, she was running away from the tracks and over to the road where I stood. I scooped up her frame and sat down forgetting the enormous freight passing.

Erick and his uncle informed me that as Celli reached the train, where the low oil tankers were passing, the larger box cars following emerged from the shadows and startled her in time to stop her from biting the wheel. I’ve never been so grateful for boxcars in my life. I love this beagle.

We had only been driving a few minutes on the interstate when I felt something akin to a bee-sting along my spine – right in the middle of my back where my reach was clumsy. “Erick I think there’s a bee in my dress,” I said calmly; assuming it wouldn’t get any worse. I was wrong. A few minutes later, the lone and very pissy hornet was making cross-stitch patterns all the way down my back and my butt. Erick pulled over and I jumped out of the truck doing a little dance as I tried frantically to find the angry little hornet. I found him as he stung me one last time and flew off into the cab, where Erick smacked him off Celli’s head and smushed him under his shoe.